On the heels of a successful season, for this athlete, everything is now seen through the Kona filter.

by David Landers

South African pro James Cunnama sometimes thinks about afternoons as he prepares for this year’s IRONMAN World Championship.

"Everything is seen through the Kona-prep filter. Every. Single. Thing," says the 34-year-old. "The race is considered in every single decision, even things far outside of racing—like how to spend a Sunday afternoon."

The afternoon of Saturday, October 14th particularly is on his mind. That’s when Cunnama will seek to ride the momentum of an already-impressive season onto the 2017 IRONMAN World Championship podium.

Returning to form

After disappointing finishes at the IRONMAN World Championships in the past few years, Cunnama resumed training this season with his former coach, Brett Sutton. "He coached me in 2013 when I came fourth at Kona, and although I have had some successes, I haven’t managed to get Kona right since then," explains Cunnama. "So hopefully this year with his guidance, I can get back to that form."

His efforts at returning to form are paying off. At victories this year in the inaugural IRONMAN Hamburg, IRONMAN 70.3 Weymouth, and IRONMAN 70.3 Lanzorate, Cunnama dominated with the fastest bike split at all three races, so his bike preparation for the IRONMAN World Championship is not veering from what has been working.

"Other than the slight changes for the specific Kona course, heat acclimation mostly, I don't change much in my cycling from other races," says Cunnama. "We haven’t changed my setup on the (Cervelo) P5X, or my equipment at all. And we haven’t done any drastically different sessions."

Cunnama has been building his cycling strength throughout the year with a goal of peaking around the time of Kona. "Specific workouts get harder and faster as I get fitter and stronger, but it mostly stays the same—the body just changes."

Cunnama and Sutton worked to understand and use the pro’s weaknesses and strengths. For instance, they landed on an effective tapering strategy after experimenting with both long tapers and no tapers before races. Cunnama and Sutton also harnessed Cunnama’s power as a "bigger guy" to prevent the cycling portion from sabotaging the marathon-distance run.

"Hopefully that means at Kona this year, I can get more power out of my legs (on the bike), with less cost to my body, so I save something for the run. I guess this is the IRONMAN holy grail."

Building resilience

Another significant factor in Cunnama’s return to form is his belief that daily decisions – race-related and mundane – can either contribute to or erode his internal readiness for Kona.

"Pretty much 24-hours a day, all aspects of life are geared around the race in October, from the time I wake up and what I have for breakfast, to what I have for dinner and what time I go to bed. It is all-consuming," he says. "You’re always working on that, from getting out the door, to getting through hard sessions. It all builds up the resilience."

Cunnama also incorporates visualization techniques about his race day performance into his preparation – up to a point.

"Being able to see yourself do the event beforehand is vital," he explains. During training sessions, he creates a mental picture of himself going through the long, strenuous day on the Big Island.

But in the final week, Cunnama intends to stop thinking about the impending IRONMAN World Championship. Instead, he will trust in all of his earlier work focused on Kona.

"Race week is exhausting enough," says Cunnama. "If you have prepared well, you shouldn’t have to run through anything in your head on race week."